124764-mystery-boxes-for-new-box-purchaseswith-some-added-clarification-page-3
Page 1, Page 2, Page 3 Content And I have a good answer for you. Because they are trying to increase revenues and clear boxes off the shelves. The redmoon outfit being placed in Skullcano will not help them achieve that goal. It won't increase their sales, won't shift people from CREDD to cash subs, won't be a major incentive to run out and buy CREDD to get the very first one to show up on the AH. On the other hand, when they place the redmoon outfit in a RNG and attach it to box sales, the boxes go flying off the shelves. Even many of the people who insist that they're just furious about this whole thing will run out and buy the boxes so that they can have the shinies inside. And they don't just buy one box, because RNG. They'll need at least a few to be sure that they get the costume if that's what they want and not a giant kitty mount. And they don't just buy boxes for themselves, oh no. They buy extras, speculating that these will be highly sought-after limited time BoE items worth a fortune. So placing the outfit in Skullcano doesn't actually achieve their goals. Placing it in a RNG and attaching it to a code from a box sale does. Did it cost them some warm fuzzy feelings from their playerbase? Sure, but they can't use warm fuzzy feelings to make payroll. That's why. | |} ---- Their plan definitely worked... When I bought my box two days ago on Amazon the price was $20. Now it's back up to $38, full price. Amazon bases their discounts on the demand for an item, and demand skyrocketed. | |} ---- In fact, it raises the interesting point that this spike in demand wasn't from new players seeking to come in. It was from existing players buying the full box price not for the second account but for the RNG inside. They literally went out and paid full box price for the shiny because they foresaw the shiny as a limited release. Players are hugely invested in their MMORPGs. The ones that settle in will stay for years. Based on what happened here, they'd probably be better off instituting a "New Player Welcome Shiny RNG Of The Month" program where they mix up what limited-release BoE shinies they give out with new game purchases every month "to welcome new players to the community and jump-start their entry into Nexus" than they ever would be introducing a static inventory cash shop. | |} ---- I agree with that... Well : until ticked off too much though. As much as I don't like the idea, because anyway it's a kind of disguised cash-shop (as you explain, unless I'm mistaken), I do agree with you as well, but for the possible "side-effect" that it'd help also bring a few new players as well, at least more than the nowadays usual stream. I'd be more for a quaterly version though, in regards to what I was saying above : | |} ---- Yeah, I'm sort of presuming, like most other people, that this is a one-shot thing preceding a major change in business model that is long past the "trial balloon" phase, so I wasn't thinking terribly seriously about the interval or about bringing in new players. :lol: But it's certainly something that MMORPG management companies should be sit up and taking note of. It's a nice way to make it easier to spot and welcome new players if they're given a gigantic floating cat thing to bounce around the game on, and if they absolutely don't want it then they can sell it for a in-game currency bump to catch up with the old guard that's been accruing resources since launch. Timed to happen in the month preceding a quarterly release, this would synchronize the first decision about whether or not to renew with an update. Meanwhile, the more obsessive or entreprenuerial of the old guard will run out and buy the game again and again in the name of "zomg I must have this limited release item before it's gone". | |} ---- ---- ---- I'm not blind or stupid. It was largely a rhetorical implied question, as suggested by the phrase I followed with: "and precisely why I dislike cash shops". Revenue generation becomes less concerned with the quality of the in-game experience and more concerned with getting people to drop dollars for externally introduced things. Incidentally, I haven't bought any new boxes and I have no intention to. | |} ---- Have you considered that sometimes we must choose the lesser of all evils? If the choice is between a cash shop or having this tied to physical copies, the choice is obvious no? None is ideal, but one is definitely MUCH FURTHER from ideal than the other... | |} ---- Have you considered reading everything in the post of mine you quoted and actually understand it ? | |} ---- Well i shorten it to just your answer, what is quite normal if you quote a person... You did no give an example where an item was created before the content, because that was what you said... Also nobody wanted to be double dipped, I'm curious where you got that from. And how is placing item in a cash shop different then what they are doing now? I was just given examples seems you have no idea what is in cash shop these days. | |} ---- I know but how is putting the outfit in cash shop worst then what they are doing now? | |} ---- I also dislike in-game cash shops--particularly poorly designed ones that don't integrate seamlessly into the game. I'm not fond of DLCs, or currency systems limited by escrow. I don't like P2W mechanics. I absolutely hate gambleboxes. I can't stand artificially imposed "limited time offers" intended to create a consumer frenzy, or pricing structures that charge more for a virtual pretend shirt than the shirt I'm actually wearing. While we're on the subject, I also dislike subscription fees, and I'm not fond of box prices either. But because I live in the real world, I understand that all game developers must in fact be concerned about revenue generation, just like all professionals in any subcomponent of the arts and entertainment field. Because the word "professional" means that they expect to be paid for their efforts. I anticipate that you also live in the real world, so I'm sure you're aware of this as well. That's why your rhetorical question is well worth answering. Because the answer to your question is both obvious and sensible. It turns out there's a reason to pay attention to all that "doom and gloom" financial information that Lethality keeps insisting we should ignore. It's so that when this game starts pulling stuff like this, we can take the following question into account when we're thinking about how to respond to it: Which is closer to reality? A ) they're doing this to line their cash-stuffed pockets and buy a new yacht. B ) they're doing this because their backs are against the wall and it's this or the unemployment line. If you don't pay attention to the financials, you may think the answer is A. If you do pay attention to the financials, you understand that the answer is B. Perhaps it doesn't matter to you which of those answers is correct. That's certainly your right. But if it does matter to you, then calibrate your response accordingly. | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- Well if this was NC$oft conducting an experiment to see what the response would be to the introduction of an Cash shop it certainly proven to be quite successful, Now if you'l excuse me i'm gonna throw up some more. | |} ---- ---- ---- On the forums? Probably. Questions should probably be fielded on things like twitter, the forums seem to be more for discussion of things rather than answers to things. | |} ---- not an answer to a personal inquiry, but an answer to the plight of the current plyerbase that felt/feels shafted by this little stunt.A simple "yes we acknowledge that this event communicated a message we didn't intend, we expected a different reaction and we are discussing internally what to do next." | |} ---- I am just as frustrated with it, even though I know that our displeasure has been handed to the higher ups by one of the CRB. It seems that their response needs to be worded with the utmost care. The reasons for this, I can't really tell. A simple "Yea this sucks and we are working on ideas to fix it" would ease a lot of players, but after 22 pages we don't have that. So perhaps it is time to look to other places to get that simple answer? | |} ---- ---- I'm sure that you are correct, I'm just not sure why? A lot of the loyalty that this community has to the game comes from an idea that the devs are much like us. Players that enjoy the game, and are willing to listen to their players to help the game grow. So this is a one-two punch of odd PR move followed by uncharacteristic silence. With all of these strange behaviors is it any wonder that players are suspecting the worst? | |} ---- That's why I'm thinking this has to be that PR crew doing this. The only successful communication efforts only happen between devs/community managers and the players. Whenever an advertisement/promotion is sent into the aether for the masses there is either little response, dismissal, or messes like this. As for why, it's like a jurisdiction thing. In times of peace Crbs can talk about whatever, but in times of community uproar, especially uproars over business decisions, PR's authority over communication takes into effect and they're in hyper-threat mode. Unfortunately, Carbine's PR crew seems to have the defense mechanisms of rabbits and so they go into cardiac arrest instead of actually letting the more in-touch folk fix things | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- Do you believe that the people who are angry are so because of a change in business method? What if people don't care about that, and are angry at the promotion, and only the promotion? | |} ---- Except this promotion is directed at both current and prospective players. So it may actually bring new players into the game. Also, if you don't want the product you can just choose not to buy it there is no need to get so emotional. There seems to be a lot of people who bought boxes and are happy with what they got so I don't know why you insist on making this out to be such a negative thing. | |} ---- Also the chat channels are full of people selling the items for plat and trading them for dyes and other stuff, so what exactly is the problem? These items are not unobtainable for anyone. They're really just like another version of CREDD. | |} ---- It's not for new players because there are FAR better ways to entice new players without grabbing your current playerbase by the ankles and shaking them for every penny they can offer. recruit a friend process with trial keys that award both the recruiter and the recruitee a mystery box on every month subbed. an automatic upgrade for new accounts from standard to deluxe (digital deluxe being brought down to the same price as the standard edition and the standard edition being either removed or lowered even further) New accounts get boosted exp/rep/prestige gain on their first character until level 50, Events to un-exclusive preorder rewards, because it's been long enough and the stuff is genuinely cool enough to not be simple status symbols. Free trials Free weekends on the second week of major drops (cause dat patch day drama) Not just for new players, but a consecutive subscription reward path is always good to promote people to play and stay. I haven't seen any outside advertisement that someone who isn't closely following wildstar would see about this stunt. It's all been on the main site, twitter, (I assume) facebook, reddit, and tumblr. Who visits those pages the most? Current and former subscribers. You go out and ask retailers about any non-discount promotion of the game, they won't know jack about this. It's not for current players because, well, they've already been through this process once. They've done the work of putting down the money to buy the game, yet that's not worth a single box. Get mo' money talk for a sec: It has been proven in cash shop environments that if you give your players a sample of your cash shop, they will be more likely to engage with that mode of item acquisition, so don't get your "oh you're being greedy/you're so entitled" talk on. (even though yes, we deserve to be entitled to the content in a cash-shop free promised p2p game) On top of that, the game is ALREADY being pulled from the shelves in many areas so some people can't even participate even if they were ok with this. There's a reason why digital downloads are so widely used in selling games; because it's ridiculous to have to drive across your county or state to find a store with even one box in stock. So no, this promotion isn't FOR any player. It's for helping them clear their games off their shelves, yet they try to tell us that we should be "thankful" for this event like they're doing it for us. See, now doesn't that just suck big Granok stones. I'm a collector. I DO want the product, and I bought it back in May when it was first available, and I buy it every time I pop a CREDD each month. I do not want an account that has been here since winter beta to be not worthy of new fun that new accounts apparently are. (And, in case you're wondering, I don't want them to be more worthy either.) And, like I said before, I'd buy the hell out of it (probably even more so, just to give away to people) if they'd have just given everyone a single box for having already purchased the game. I have a brain, therefore there is a need to get emotional. If you want control over emotions, you've got your own to do that with. I care about this studio, ok? Probably too much. They seemed to be the last MMO studio that was genuinely excited to share their project with the world. They fostered a wonderful community that was based on the faith in maturity of the one you are talking to. Some forumites didn't follow that, and that's whatever, but Carbine did. None of this "You're welcome for charging you for arbitrary things." None of that "You may think it went awful, but OUR DATA SAYS IT'S GREAT SO THEREFORE IT'S GREAT, BE HAPPY!" They engaged with their community when it came to general game direction and they owned up to mistakes. And back in beta, I admit, straight up until the Preorder perks were starting to take into effect I was planning on not buying the game. But I did anyway, because Carbine seemed to be the only MMO studio in the industry right now that wasn't letting cynicism guide their design decisions. And despite all that was against them, these folk managed to make this game the best themepark MMO on the market right now. My emotions are sparked because this recent stunt betrayed all that held my faith in Carbine. And I don't really have an alternative to go to that can live up to the standard that pre-mysterybox Carbine had set. Congrats for them, but I feel sorry for those folk who would love to have the same kind of fun with them but cannot do so, whether it's because they can't find a box, they can only afford their box and their monthly sub, they spent all their plat on experiencing the only content they knew about, or because they understand how cash shops work and their principals won't allow them to participate. TL;DR: Just one *cupcake* box for current subscribers and a "Hey, we're doing this to get rid of boxes!" is all I would need from Carbine to turn off sad Roda. It's not too much to ask for. | |} ---- Wonderful post Roda, couldn't have put it any better myself. So many on here seem to think some of us are being overly dramatic about the current events, that's fair enough but I disagree. Like you I care deeply about the game and feel somewhat let down by the whole mystery box promotion. Personally I don't give a toss about the box items but I do care about the way the whole thing has transpired. No matter how much folks bang on about bringing new players in, that's not what this was about. This was about hitting the existing player base (loyal fans) for a few extra coin, It just feels wrong. I know a lot of you are fine with this and are enjoying your new acquisitions, that's cool and all but it just feels like a crappy move to me. This whole promotion smacks of desperation and simply doesn't feel right.It's almost as if they're testing the waters so to speak, if you know what I mean <_< | |} ---- That's what bothered me most. Very few new people bought the hard copies, it was existing subs. I know many people who spent $100+ buying copies to get all the silly items, and the whole thing just feels dirty to me. I haven't logged in to play for more than an hour or two after this whole thing went down because I just felt disgusted and saddened by how under handed and cheap of a move it was. I know a lot of you who bought boxes for the items probably don't feel used, but you were. | |} ---- This is pretty much me. I just can't stomach logging in right now (AND IT'S KILLING ME, I WANT TO PLAY SO BAD), and I've had to (temporarily, I hope) do all I can to avoid images of this on social medias. 'Cause outside of direct discussions on the matter I like to retreat to my fantasy world where this never happened. :T And I am literally waiting for the right words from Carbine so I can enjoy the game again. | |} ---- This. I'm really disappointed in carbine. I stopped playing a little while ago for various reasons, including my health(again), finally fit enough to play again and this stuff happens. I really don't feel like playing much anymore. | |} ---- ---- ---- Pardon me, but what does this comment have to do with the promotion? :| I don't understand... The promotion has nothing to do with "the way carbine seems to go with wildstar", and you don't know if they "did it to survive and make more people enjoy the game". You're just guessing. And how do you know you don't want to "play the game we want wildstar to be" when all we are talking about is the promotion? Your comment makes absolutely no sense. If there is some point to this comment regarding the issue at hand, could you please explain it? | |} ---- ---- ---- Yes, I understand. I specifically said I need neither game time nor plat. | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- So "caring to casua" equals "adding gamble boxes"? Ugh, I never considered myself hardcore, but I sure don't want to be lumped into the group that thinks gamble boxes for real world money in a video game are a good thing. | |} ---- ---- I'm not sure fi this is aimed at me. If it is tough...I'm just mewling(that the right word?) over the idea that since it's already clearly more for current players that wouldn't it have been better to just hitch off a system that already is for the player base AND this is just me speculating... Wouldn't the funds directly go to NCsoft/Carbine as opposed to being split between them and a brick n mortar store in turn giving them more funding, plus it'd potentially increase the amount of CREDD floating around possibly lowering prices and making CREDD cheaper for people who rely on that for their sub. Just a thought though, business isn't my job I just make pretty pictures... Not disagreeing, but more or less going "well this might have been a smarter choice..." | |} ---- ---- It most likely has something to do with their distribution relationship between them and their retailers. Seems like Best Buy and Amazon have a deal where they get to sell back unsold copies so in order to reduce the amount of money they have to pay out or return somebody created this promotion to entice people to buy boxes. Also depending on the deal there's a big chance that NCSoft/Carbine is still losing money on the transaction just not as much as if they had to take the box back. You know what would have gotten me to buy one or more boxes? 60 days of game time. | |} ---- I'm not here to argue or stir the pot. I was just giving my two cents. Yes, I do have a stockpile of game time and plat. I EARNED those things. This isn't about that. These new items should be in game for anyone to earn or buy from an NPC. These are fluff items. If this was a B2P game I would have zero complaints but it isn't. This is a P2P game. I didn't complain one bit when the strain mount was priced obscenely high. I wouldn't mind if it was still that expensive. I didn't complain about the 80p mount speed upgrade either. I just figured that I would grind it out eventually. No big deal. Gold sink. Needed and understood. These new items are tied to retail and that completely changes the flavor. Someone HAS to buy a box copy and be willing to sell the item. That's not even close to the same thing. Much earlier I said that I hope these things end up as contract rewards. I would have no problem grinding out the time to get them if that is the case. I stand by my statement that I am not happy with this shift. | |} ---- Me, I bought 6 I am going to get about of hate from this, but oh well. FYI: COSTUME IS NOT BOE OR SOULBOUND EVEN AFTER EQUIPPING IT Meaning, equip then dye it black hole dye (or nova white, just examples) then unequip and trade it or sell it. I'm sure that is unintentional. Another thing I want to point out is the mounts are useable at level 1 *mass exodus from forums to game* | |} ---- You can also buy them online for $20 on the Best Buy website. | |} ---- ---- ---- Why make hay when you can complain? There are so many ways to see the bad side of things, and it's so enriching for your ego! | |} ---- I prefer to enrich my virtual wallet! Can I do that AND complain? Seems like the best of both worlds. | |} ---- ---- Would be nice if you said which country, the game is region locked. | |} ---- yeah, sure, I need a key for my EU account, please. | |} ---- ---- ---- Granted, a promotion like "have an active subscription by x date and get a Mystery Box" would have gotten you to reopen your account without having to spend extra money, right? | |} ---- ---- You do it in your Account window through the main WildStar page. Just "add a code" or something like that. | |} ---- I posited a sub awards cash shop working like this a while ago. Allow like one or two weekends a month free to play for anyone. At the same time, anyone with an active account during that period gets a sub award item as thanks for subbing. Imagine if the snarlyfax mount was that item. You get a bunch of people showing up for the weekend and seeing people flying around in giant inflatable cats. Now, I hate the mount, but they're popular. I imagine people logging in and seeing that would be more likely to sub for the month or buy into the game, especially if that was an every-month event. And, in the end, you put it on a shop so that people who start later can still get earlier rewards, essentially as if they'd been there for that month in the first place. | |} ---- As mentioned above, you just apply the code to your account through account management :) | |} ---- Thanks so much. Watching the tracking info is the hardest part. | |} ---- My Snarfelynx just ate me. | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- The balloon cat is the fastest mount out there right now... Faster than mounts with the 80 plat boost. You see my conundrum. | |} ---- ---- it's not a conundrum :D the extra speed is not worth being seen with that stupid cat blimp mount! take the money, how likely is it that there will never be another mount that is as fast or faster than blimpcat I want to be able to stab it in its ridiculous face and watch it do this. Imagine it, cats flying all over Thayd as they deflate. now that's worth paying money for :D | |} ---- ---- ---- Snarf mount, costume. I'm sure it's just a RNG roll when you open the loot bag. I should add, the Snarfelynx really is a game-changing experience. it moves the camera way up, and everything about the way it's made just provides an enormous sense of security when you're moving around. I find that I'm oddly unafraid of heights while using it, compared to on my hoverboard. Love fat cat. | |} ---- Gotta admit this made me laugh. Keep your sharp objects away from my Snarf. | |} ---- Well when you put it like that... WTS SNARLYFOX PST | |} ---- ---- For a single costume? | |} ---- Yep, I have enough disposable income that buying 2 boxed games did not phase me. And it had the upside of getting me the costume I wanted, and a kitty hoverboard. I guess if it also extends my subscription 2 months then it really only cost me $10 so thats even better. | |} ---- I find it interesting that some people look at it as paying $5 for it "because they get 30 days subscription", and others are justifying putting it on the AH for the same price as CREDD "because they paid $20 for it". ;) | |} ---- ---- Start runeing your gear ;) | |} ---- ---- Oh, once they're nerfed to work like all the other mounts in the game, you'll get some wailing. ;) | |} ---- How exactly did they "almost crashed Thayd"? If there's something that people can do that crashes servers, I would like to know about it. | |} ---- Can we get harpoons and go after them like air whales? I want to hear their Pfffffffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr of agony. | |} ---- Drr drr drr | |} ---- I've now twice seen an "explosion" that made everyone in the area lag. First time I saw it was in Thayd, second time was in Daggerstone battleground. First time it happened I wasn't in the spot where it happened and only saw it from a small distance so I don't know what was going on there, but some people were cursing at the fat cats. Then in Daggerstone it happened when a Dominion player came to the middle control point on a cat and unmounted. Huge flash, everyone's FPS drops for a few minutes in that area. Looking away from where the explosion happened fixes FPS - until you look in that direction again. I got a screenie of the Thayd explosion: http://i.imgur.com/pGMzvf2.jpg I heard several people complain about their FPS dropping really low suddenly and it happened to me too, and it seems it might have something to do with the cats. Or maybe it was aliens :o | |} ---- I'm having it looked into, thank you for the report. We gotta stop them aliens at all costs... | |} ---- Yeah, sorry I just saw your reply, Pyaray. I was talking about the same thing in Thayd that Revon mentioned. I honestly don't KNOW it was the fat cats, but there we like a dozen of them all summoned at once, they started bouncing all together and *boom* ... FPS and ping just plummeted for a good minute or two. I left the area into Galeras (which was tough, given that my FPS was like 1 frame every three seconds) and returned moments later to people hollering about the cats causing it. A few seconds later, the lag spike ended and when I got back to Academy Corner, most everyone had either unsummoned their cats or left the area. Everything was groovy after that. This would have been early evening on Saturday, I think. It was a three-day marathon for me, so it's kind of a blur. ;) | |} ---- I bought three boxes and got two Snarfelynx and one Kitty hoverboard | |} ----